Re: vestibular problem of some description

Posted By Adam on April 08, 1999 at 09:08:36:

In Reply to: Re: vestibular problem of some description posted by CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS on April 08, 1999 at 08:55:46:








Dear Adam:
Sorry to hear about your ordeal with vertigo.  Overall, I think you need to see a good neurologist who deals with perpherial etiologies of vertigo.  There things that it is not likely to be, one is migraine headaches.  A migraine does not last 1-1/2 years so a Bickerstaff type migraine is likely not what is going on.  Since there is no hearing loss, I doubt that you have Meniere's disease (what Alan Shepard the astronaut had).  You might either have vestibular neuronitis, benign paroxymal vertigo or a process occuring in the CP angle (I doubt the latter because you do not describe any cranial nerve deficits).  The neurological examination and some laboratory test will hopefully give you the diagnosis.  I would add, that you really need to see someone who deals with these problems.  Best of luck and sorry that with this type of disorder, without the physical exam it is almost impossible to give you an accurate diagnosis.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD





Thanks for your quick reply.
I saw a neurologist recently, who unfortunately is the only neurologist in my capital city in Australia. He deals with many many patients as you would imagine and it took 3 months to get an appointment to see him and the examination I was given by him was quick and half-hearted. I am continuing to see an ENT specialist. I just have a few questions:
You mentioned that I may have vestibular neuronitis. I understand that this is an attack similar to the ones I described earlier but can the constant symptoms I experience now be an attack of vestibular neuronitis -- is there an ongoing, chronic form of v.n.? The neurologist I saw disregarded this possibility that I brought up because he believed that it was impossible to have more than one or two attacks of it in a lifetime. BPPV was ruled out (unfortunately) because it does not appear to be positional at all and the Hill(?) maneovuer failed to cause problems with me.
The only thing I can think of that could be regarded as a head injury (unless a cranial nerve deficit is something that I can be born with) was when I was an infant I recieved a very hard bump between the eyes above the nose .. however I remained conscious and no problems appeared at the time.
I have basically been told by my neurologist that I was wasting his time and I just need to live with it. I would prefer to persist with trying to find the answer, but am not sure it is really viable because of the lack of ANY specialists in my area that deal with vestibular disorders (or even believe how debilitating they can be).
Thanks again.
-Adam








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